The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, has revealed that MTN Nigeria is a Nigerian company, saying millions of Nigerians have a stake in the telecom operator despite its parent company being founded in South Africa.
According to him, MTN Group has a diverse global ownership structure, with investors from Africa, North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
"We are labelled as a South African company because MTN Group was founded in South Africa. But the reality is that MTN Group has a very diverse global shareholding. Only about 50 percent of the shareholding is African, while the rest is held by investors from North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific," he said.
Toriola stressed that MTN Nigeria has become deeply rooted in the Nigerian economy.
"MTN Nigeria is a Nigerian company through and through. We are domiciled in Nigeria. We are listed on the Nigerian Exchange. We pay all the taxes, duties and levies expected of us, and we are run by Nigerians.
"I am Nigerian. Apart from one executive, every member of our executive committee is Nigerian, while our entire expatriate workforce in Nigeria is just four people.
"We have over 201,000 retail investors, while about 11 million Nigerians own MTN shares indirectly through pension funds. We are very proud of our Nigerian identity," he stated.
The MTN boss also defended the Federal Government's approval of the recent telecom tariff adjustment, saying the increase was necessary to prevent the industry from collapsing financially.
According to him, telecom operators were struggling to meet their financial obligations before the tariff review.
"People perceived the tariff increase as an aspiration for profitability, but the reality was that we were on our knees financially. We couldn't even pay our month-to-month bills with the revenues we were generating. The tariff adjustment was an absolute necessity. It enabled us to stay alive," he said.
Toriola revealed that the improved financial position allowed MTN to significantly increase investment in its network infrastructure.
He disclosed that while the company budgeted about ₦250 billion for capital expenditure in 2024, it raised the figure to approximately ₦1 trillion in 2025. He added that MTN spent ₦390 billion on capital projects in the first quarter of the year alone, exceeding its profit after tax of ₦359 billion during the same period.
According to him, the investments are aimed at improving network quality and delivering better service to customers across Nigeria.
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